Sharp's duet sinks Blues
ST. LOUIS -- In a game that had the intense feel of how it used to be whenever the Blackhawks and Blues played, Patrick Sharp spoiled the party for the sellout crowd at Scottrade Center.
Sharp's 2 third period goals -- both short-handed -- gave the Hawks a down and dirty 3-2 win in the first of their eight-game stretch against Central Division rivals.
"We've got a ton of games coming up in the division and this is a great way to start it off," Sharp said.
The 2 short-handed goals in a game tied a team record held by seven others. Steve Sullivan was the last to do it Jan. 26, 2001 at Colorado.
Sharp's first short-handed goal came at 7:41 and snapped a 1-1 tie. He stole the puck from Blues defenseman Barret Jackman inside the Hawks' blue line and sped the other way, beating goalie Manny Legace with a backhander.
After Paul Kariya made it 2-2, Sharp struck again with 2:21 to play.
Jackman couldn't handle a pass from Legace and the puck wound up with Rene Bourque, whose shot from the left side hit Jackman's stick and wound up in the slot with Sharp, who buried it.
"We're trying to be aggressive short-handed," Sharp said. "We have forwards who can skate in here and both those goals were a result of speed up ice and aggressiveness."
Bourque had 2 assists in the win, but the Hawks' best forward with Sharp was Tuomo Ruutu. Ruutu was seemingly everywhere, playing more than 20 minutes, leading the Hawks with 4 hits and blocking a shot.
The Hawks (7-6) opened the scoring at 4:45 of the first period on Dustin Byfuglien's slap shot past Legace.
"I just took a shot and it went in," said Byfuglien, recalled earlier in the day from Rockford.
The win was the Hawks' second in a row on the road and made them 4-2 away from the United Center.
"We've heard that phrase, 'building a culture of winning,' for a long time now. But in this locker room now we really feel we can win any game against any team," Sharp said. "We've proved that to ourselves a lot this year, coming back and winning games."
Now the Hawks need to prove they can be a good team at home and turn around their 3-4 record. Tonight's game against Nashville will be the first of four straight at the United Center.
"We need to establish an identity at home where every time we take the ice the other team knows they're in for a tough night," said center Kevyn Adams. "That needs to start (tonight). You need these home points so it needs to be something we need to address as a team -- bring that same kind of simple, hard-working game."
The Blues hit two crossbars and a post, but Hawks goalie Nikolai Khabibulin was otherwise solid. David Perron's goal in the first period appeared to be kicked in and Kariya's goal went in off Jim Vandermeer.
"It was like a chess game out there and tonight we came up with the result we wanted," said Hawks coach Denis Savard. "It was a good effort by everyone. We played a strong, smart game."